The Political Game: The blame game
by Dennis McCauley 
{ Sep 15th 2006 at 11:55AM }
Each week Dennis McCauley contributes The Political Game, a column on the collision of politics and video games:
Wednesday's tragic shooting spree at Montreal's Dawson College has prompted yet another media feeding frenzy over violent video games. Word that 25-year-old shooter Kimveer Gill played Super Columbine RPG, a non-commercial game design, was enough to push the video game angle into lead paragraphs in newspapers from London to Washington, D.C. to China. Hell, it even made the Drudge Report.
To be sure, the clearly unbalanced Gill was no stranger to games, especially first-person shooters. His blog on VampireFreaks.com names Half-Life 2, F.E.A.R. and Call of Duty 2 among his favorites. He also played some of the commonly-cited poster children for game violence, including Manhunt, Postal and the GTA series. Gill also played less controversial titles like Warcraft III, Need for Speed Underground and Command & Conquer Generals.
But Super Columbine RPG is the sound bite here, and it's no surprise that the media has jumped on that angle with both feet. Think about it -- a game based upon a horrendous school massacre being played by a lunatic who then commits his own deadly school shooting. If you're writing headlines, it's practically irresistible.
But step back from the hype for a moment and look at the Dawson tragedy from a societal perspective. Ask yourself, what could anyone have done about Kimveer Gill? Would restrictive video game legislation have helped?
Not a chance. Such laws aim to prevent teens and younger kids from buying violent games. Gill was 25 - a psychotic, sorry-ass excuse of a man, certainly, but legally an adult. Nothing less than an outright ban on violent games would have stopped him from playing Doom 3, Quake 4 and some of his other favorite shooters. And does anyone really advocate blocking grown-ups from the entertainment of their choice?
Would a better video game rating system have helped?
Again, no way. Canada uses the ESRB ratings, and, despite some flaws, it's a damned good system. But Gill was old enough to buy any game for which he could scrape the cash together. Besides, Super Columbine RPG -- the game attracting the media buzz -- is not a commercial product. It's not sold and it's not rated. By the way, don't mistake that for an endorsement of the Columbine game. I'm not a fan, although I don't dispute amateur designer Danny LeDonne's First Amendment right to create the game or the right of others to check it out.
Given the Dawson shooting's enormous publicity, however, mainstream media coverage isn't likely to distinguish between commercial and amateur games. The public, already harboring negative gamer stereotypes, will be quick to lump Super Columbine with video games generally. Can a dozen politicians toting new pieces of video game legislation be far behind? We saw this recently in Louisiana, where the racist online Flash game Border Patrol was exploited to help peddle a retail-oriented video game law to a clueless legislature.
Personally, I'd like to know whether Kimveer Gill ever received treatment for his obvious mental health issues. His blog shows him to be angry and filled with hate, severely depressed, suicidal and wanting to go out "in a hail of bullets." That's a bad stew of emotions for someone who also happens to own an assault rifle. Columbine killer Eric Harris had many of the same traits.
In fact, we're already hearing about Gill's weapon. In Canada's raging gun control debate, both sides, inexplicably, are claiming that the Dawson rampage somehow supports their position on assault weapons.
Politicians, they never change.
It's interesting to note that the last major school shooting in Canada happened in 1989. Since first-person shooters didn't come along until id Software released Wolfenstein 3-D in 1992, the earlier massacre was apparently sparked by Pong or maybe Carmen San Diego.
Or perhaps the guy was just insane, like Kimveer Gill.
Dennis McCauley is Editor of GamePolitics.com and writes about games for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Opinions expressed in The Political Game are his own. Reach him at dennis@GamePolitics.com.
Wednesday's tragic shooting spree at Montreal's Dawson College has prompted yet another media feeding frenzy over violent video games. Word that 25-year-old shooter Kimveer Gill played Super Columbine RPG, a non-commercial game design, was enough to push the video game angle into lead paragraphs in newspapers from London to Washington, D.C. to China. Hell, it even made the Drudge Report.To be sure, the clearly unbalanced Gill was no stranger to games, especially first-person shooters. His blog on VampireFreaks.com names Half-Life 2, F.E.A.R. and Call of Duty 2 among his favorites. He also played some of the commonly-cited poster children for game violence, including Manhunt, Postal and the GTA series. Gill also played less controversial titles like Warcraft III, Need for Speed Underground and Command & Conquer Generals.
But Super Columbine RPG is the sound bite here, and it's no surprise that the media has jumped on that angle with both feet. Think about it -- a game based upon a horrendous school massacre being played by a lunatic who then commits his own deadly school shooting. If you're writing headlines, it's practically irresistible.
But step back from the hype for a moment and look at the Dawson tragedy from a societal perspective. Ask yourself, what could anyone have done about Kimveer Gill? Would restrictive video game legislation have helped?
Not a chance. Such laws aim to prevent teens and younger kids from buying violent games. Gill was 25 - a psychotic, sorry-ass excuse of a man, certainly, but legally an adult. Nothing less than an outright ban on violent games would have stopped him from playing Doom 3, Quake 4 and some of his other favorite shooters. And does anyone really advocate blocking grown-ups from the entertainment of their choice?
Would a better video game rating system have helped?
Again, no way. Canada uses the ESRB ratings, and, despite some flaws, it's a damned good system. But Gill was old enough to buy any game for which he could scrape the cash together. Besides, Super Columbine RPG -- the game attracting the media buzz -- is not a commercial product. It's not sold and it's not rated. By the way, don't mistake that for an endorsement of the Columbine game. I'm not a fan, although I don't dispute amateur designer Danny LeDonne's First Amendment right to create the game or the right of others to check it out.
Given the Dawson shooting's enormous publicity, however, mainstream media coverage isn't likely to distinguish between commercial and amateur games. The public, already harboring negative gamer stereotypes, will be quick to lump Super Columbine with video games generally. Can a dozen politicians toting new pieces of video game legislation be far behind? We saw this recently in Louisiana, where the racist online Flash game Border Patrol was exploited to help peddle a retail-oriented video game law to a clueless legislature.
Personally, I'd like to know whether Kimveer Gill ever received treatment for his obvious mental health issues. His blog shows him to be angry and filled with hate, severely depressed, suicidal and wanting to go out "in a hail of bullets." That's a bad stew of emotions for someone who also happens to own an assault rifle. Columbine killer Eric Harris had many of the same traits.
In fact, we're already hearing about Gill's weapon. In Canada's raging gun control debate, both sides, inexplicably, are claiming that the Dawson rampage somehow supports their position on assault weapons.
Politicians, they never change.
It's interesting to note that the last major school shooting in Canada happened in 1989. Since first-person shooters didn't come along until id Software released Wolfenstein 3-D in 1992, the earlier massacre was apparently sparked by Pong or maybe Carmen San Diego.
Or perhaps the guy was just insane, like Kimveer Gill.
Dennis McCauley is Editor of GamePolitics.com and writes about games for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Opinions expressed in The Political Game are his own. Reach him at dennis@GamePolitics.com.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Dave @ Sep 15th 2006 1:28PM
I think the real threat here is vampires. Vampires are destroying the moral fiber of today's youth and must be banned.
OOOOPs @ Sep 15th 2006 12:02PM
This is stupid; if you're into video games in this day and age, most likely you have played an FPS at some point. This dont mean sh!t.
Alcoholic Zombie @ Sep 15th 2006 12:05PM
Yawn!
All it is that little Kimveer didnt get the love and attention from his parents.
No need to put games in the "crosshairs" of the situation. It's the parents to blame for his childhood.
On top of that, I played that Columbine game and you dont see me shooting up my job anytime soon.
Also, the game sucked because I couldnt make it past the school hallways.
BRAINS!
Lou D @ Sep 15th 2006 12:08PM
bah!
Video games are the new "the devil made me do it" excuse that people use to try to get away with it...
If a video game can influence you, so can a book or movie or even a suggestion from a friend.
Lame. I vote for torture until death.
OtakuCODE @ Sep 15th 2006 12:15PM
We are living in perilous times. Not only do our youth have access to violent videogames, but they have acess to even older, and more refined, vessels of evil! Paintings, books, plays, poetry, radio, dancing, singing, television, movies, commercials, the telephone, fax machines, gossip, and more! From time immemorial doomsayers have warned you all! Every time something bad happened anywhere in the world, and one of these factors was even tangentially related, they warned you! But you ignored them! And look what happens... this thing happened, and THIS is the thing that is the portent of the end! Yes, this has been said before, and infinite number of times and about an infinite number of situations, but THIS TIME ITS RIGHT! Really! Be afraid! Censor, ban, and shelter your children! It is your only hope!
/idiocy off
Seriously though. A videogame never hurt anybody. A 4 year old playing GTA and The Guy Game isn't going to have their development damaged by playing a 'mature' videogame. The concept is absurd. It was absurd back when people claimed the theater made men weak, back when they claimed books would rot your brain, back when they claimed dancing and music would lead to sin. It has always been wrong, it always will be wrong, and people need to stop being fooled by it.
adam @ Sep 15th 2006 12:21PM
I think you missed the point OOOOPs. It's not about playing FPS'es. The politicians are going to try and legislate video games (a form of free speech) because of this.
As the author points out, this man was an adult could make his own choices. The next "logical" step is to ban or censor violent video games.
"Wont somebody please think of the adults"
Exick @ Sep 15th 2006 12:26PM
You can almost set your watch by it. School shooting you say? Find out if he played video games! Of course he did. He was born after 1980. It's practically a guarantee. What that proves or doesn't prove is irrelevant to the media. As long as you can draw some sort of tenuous, illogical conclusion between playing video games and going on a killing spree, it's headline material.
I saw the comment here from "jack thompson" yesterday regarding this (commenting on a totally unrelated story, but there it was). I don't know if that was the real Jack Thompson, but one thing I do know is that the real one pleasured himself repeatedly to the thought of cashing in on someone's death by blaming video games.
FSK405K @ Sep 15th 2006 12:17PM
OMG Half-Life 2, F.E.A.R., and Call of Duty 2 are among my favorites! I've also played Postal and the GTA series, and less controversial titles like Command & Conquer Generals. They'd better not let me get near any schools!
Alcoholic Zombie @ Sep 15th 2006 12:17PM
*brain breaks*
aZn_1080p @ Sep 15th 2006 12:21PM
look people he's a goth, just look at that jackass haircut. That explains pretty much everything about the shooting, I don't understand why the game angle keeps getting pushed. Ever notice how every time a shooting happens, its a goth who does it?
For some reason these wannabe 'vampire' guys usually have a 'hard man' complex, wish they were real tough, and can't deal with the reality that they aren't, not to mention they are unwilling to just take up boxing or something and put in the hard work required to be a 'tough guy' (if that's your thing).
FSK405K @ Sep 15th 2006 12:21PM
Holy crap Joystiq. After the wonderful journalism of subsidized Wiis and Steve Irwin ranting we've seen recently, this is one fine piece of writing.
epobirs @ Sep 15th 2006 12:25PM
The hand wringers like to choose targets that are foreign to their own life experience. If the mentality of blaming media products for the homicidal behavior of the mentally disturbed is valid, the hand wringers should long ago have sought to ban 'Catcher in the Rye.' If it could drive John Lennon's killer, how long before another celebrity dies at the hands of a would-be Holden Caulfield?
http://www.crimelibrary.com/classics4/chapman/
Yet students in schools around the nation are made to read this murder manual. Something must be done. For the children.
LunarDuality @ Sep 15th 2006 12:31PM
You make a good point about how "irresistable" this kind of connection is for a member of the media. Despite no direct causality, it's easy to prop that hypothesis up in front of the masses and they will most likely buy into it without a second thought.
We really need to analyze our current pattern of elevating "the media" to a certain level of truth. Honestly, unless you were there how can you really know what happened? To think of the very small number of individuals controlling the lion's share of the media/information we consume on a daily basis is downright petrifying. How can we challenge ourselves and the media to do better by reporting objectively? Why is it that we support media with a clear perspective and not objective reporting? Do we lack the desire to think and figure out our own perspectives based on the facts of a situation?
I also agree that people are quick to blame one single person or object or game or "societal-ill-du-jour." But the real core issue for the perpetrator is most likely an internal struggle not an outside influence. why can't we give people of all ages the tools and resources to be able to cope with their lives without wanting to "go out in a hail of bullets"?
In my opinion it is never just one thing that precipiates these type of choices. Somehow we (as a society) need to look around and figure out ways to help people before they reach a point of no return.
Nigeria @ Sep 15th 2006 12:35PM
aZn_1080p
''look people he's a goth, just look at that jackass haircut. That explains pretty much everything about the shooting, I don't understand why the game angle keeps getting pushed. Ever notice how every time a shooting happens, its a goth who does it?''
LOL. Thats so true.
Jeremy @ Sep 15th 2006 12:35PM
I wish Joystiq wouldn't continue to post this guy's face, I am tired of seeing this sicko and I think he would be happy for all the press he is getting for his evil deeds.
CooperHawkes @ Sep 15th 2006 12:45PM
Hey should have just offed himself.
http://www.gamerandy.com/archives/2006/09/the_flaming_swo_12.shtml
Pyrocy @ Sep 15th 2006 12:49PM
@ 14...
It's the hair, isn't it?
Jon Doe @ Sep 15th 2006 12:54PM
I went to Dawson College last semester before heading to university. Three of my friends were there when it happened.
Videogames are a small link in the chain of this guys development and amount to nothing compared to his upbringing.
CloroxMan @ Sep 15th 2006 12:51PM
First of all, please check out my flowchart on school shootings. http://www.xanga.com/CloroxMan/529130032/flowchart-on-school-shootings.html
Second, the Super Columbine RPG isn't a professional game. ANYONE could have made this game because it was created with an RPG maker. In fact, it was created with this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG_Maker
This sucks because Media will ignore that and group that in with video games in general. This wasn't a purchased game that could be prevented with a stupid ban or rating system, this was a piece anyone could download from the internet, just like cellphone rings, weather toolbars and porn.
But this is beating a dead horse. I am just waiting for the politicians to jump on this.
Oh yeah, I agree on his haircut. What a douche.
Pag @ Sep 15th 2006 12:58PM
I'm always amazed that people look at the correlation between a violent person liking violent games, and come up with the idea that the violent game made the person violent. It makes much more sense to look at it the other way around: he liked violence and so liked violent entertainment, including games. What games did they expect him to play? Barbie Horse Adventures?
It makes sense that somebody who has sick dreams of doing a shoot-out in a school would like a game about that subject. It's much more of a stretch to think that he hadn't even considered doing this terrible act before playing the Columbine game and that somehow the game warped his sense of morality.
Hopefully no dumb laws will be created because of this tragedy. More people die each year of lighning strikes than from school shootings. We must not limit our liberties to try to avoid incredibly rare events.
zimminy @ Sep 15th 2006 12:58PM
ya the mainstream debate is totally retarded but don't try to tell me that the 'Super Columbine Massacre RPG' isn't total crap. If that game is 'intellectual' (as cited in a previous joystiq article) then someone should make a flight simulator: 9/11 edition. that would be TRANSCENDENT!
CloroxMan @ Sep 15th 2006 12:59PM
The goth was going to kill himself regardless. He just thought, "well shit, if I am going to kill myself, might as well take people with me."
What a royal asshole.
Jon Doe @ Sep 15th 2006 1:01PM
He did kill himself, after the cops fired a round into his shoulder.
ihavenoideawhatisgoingon @ Sep 15th 2006 1:09PM
"It's interesting to note that the last major school shooting in Canada happened in 1989. Since first-person shooters didn't come along until id Software released Wolfenstein 3-D in 1992, the earlier massacre was apparently sparked by Pong or maybe Carmen San Diego."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! What about Oregon trail though?? In there you actually use a GUN to shoot at animals to get food! A GUN!!!! There's some violence.
Pixelantes Anonymous @ Sep 15th 2006 1:10PM
aZn_1080p, let's ban goths and vampires?
ejflex @ Sep 15th 2006 1:10PM
Can you please stop posting this f'n freaks pictures on your site? This is just the typical loser from HS who didnt get enough parenting, and was allowed to decompose into a waste of life. Stop posting his freakin mug all over the place. Please.
obo @ Sep 15th 2006 1:17PM
FSK405K:
"Holy crap Joystiq. After the wonderful journalism of subsidized Wiis and Steve Irwin ranting we've seen recently, this is one fine piece of writing."
TFA:
"Dennis McCauley is Editor of GamePolitics.com and writes about games for the Philadelphia Inquirer."
Sorry, man.
Jacob @ Sep 15th 2006 1:13PM
13. aZn_1080p
"Ever notice how every time a shooting happens, its a goth who does it?"
Actually, this guy was an odd one. With goths, they usually get depressed and only shoot themselves. They're more into self-pity than vengeance. (Although, they may slash your tires.)
Where did you get the "tough guy" thing from? Most goths I've come across talk plenty of shit amongst themselves, but avoid actual outside confrontation. They'll glare at you, and possibly make a snide comment or two, but that's about it.
/knows real goths... even been to their dance club
WhiteSpyder @ Sep 15th 2006 1:15PM
@ #9 aZn_1080p
As a member of Vampirefreaks.com myself, I find your comment rather disturbing and quite frankly offensive.
Going by your (rather flawed) logic, surely that would indicate that as these things only every happen in America/Canada, every teenager there is a gun toting maniac?
Think before you type.
zero2dash @ Sep 15th 2006 1:33PM
How many red flags have to be raised in order for parents, teachers, friends and classmates to realize "hey, this jack@$$ needs help".
Paging Jack Thompson...(cause you know he'll throw his hate mongering into this one)
flyNN @ Sep 15th 2006 1:33PM
Anyone notice the pics were slightly different? There's a pic on the cover of that newspaper and then this one. This guy was taking photographic 'head shots' (I didn't mean for the pun, but...). He wanted just the right photo for when he'd be in the paper. (gonna be sick now)
bumpi @ Sep 15th 2006 1:33PM
Saying something like:
If we ban violent games then people won't behave like this guy.
Is like saying:
If we ban porn then people will stop having sex.
Or:
If Bush junior wasn't elected president, the USA would have been better off.
Hmm, I'm not so sure about the last one *scratching my head*
:)
TRUTH @ Sep 15th 2006 2:03PM
Jack Thompson: A ignorant manipulative close-minded old man trying to rid personal responsibility.
Jabrwock @ Sep 15th 2006 2:06PM
@zimminy
"If that game is 'intellectual' (as cited in a previous joystiq article) then someone should make a flight simulator: 9/11 edition. that would be TRANSCENDENT!"
But a movie about it is ok? What is it about the interactive software medium that makes it incapable of dealing with serious issues?
Evan @ Sep 15th 2006 2:21PM
In April, a 12-year-old girl murdered her parents and little brother. She was also a member of VampireFreaks.com
That's 2 high-profile murder-sprees by members of the same website within months. I'm not saying that the website creates murderers (it may just attract them), but there certainly appears to be a connection between the website and the crimes.
Jabrwock @ Sep 15th 2006 2:24PM
@Evan
Then again, several high profile murderers read "The Catcher in the Rye"...
Just because there's a connection doesn't imply causation. Be careful.
Without VampireFreaks.com, these 3 murderers would likely either have posted elsewhere, or written narcissitic fantasies in their own journals at home. The internet just allows their journals to be more public. It's like their own avenue for venting.
It makes them feel special and important, their rants are being read by others, rather than being ignored as they usually are in RL.
Yobari @ Sep 15th 2006 3:31PM
Actually, the last shooting in a school in Canada would be in 1992 at the Concordia University. Valery Fabricant went berserk when his paranoia got the best of him and he killed 4 of his fellow teachers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valery_Fabrikant
Judging by what i've seen on tv in the last 2 days in Montreal, the debate around here was more about the firearms and how he was dressed (i'm not joking). They did talk about the video games he played (mostly Super Columbine RPG). It's a real shame how some people use tragic events such as this shooting to support their unfounded theories.
illspirit @ Sep 15th 2006 3:38PM
"That's a bad stew of emotions for someone who also happens to own an assault rifle."
But, erm, the gun in question isn't even close to being an assault rifle. It would barely even fit into the Brady Campaign's extremely loose definition...
icantdrawanime @ Sep 15th 2006 3:40PM
Wise words and history so often go unheard
while tragedies are bullets for other pointless wars
Vampiric @ Sep 15th 2006 3:51PM
As a user of vampirefreaks, I think the bad press vf is getting is bullshit, I mean, this has happened with plenty of other websites before. There was a guy from Newgrounds.com who went on a killing spree before killing himself. The only reason VF gets such bad attention over such matters is because its got a slightly darker tone to it. All of these people do these things because of stuff that goes on in their lives, not because of stuff on the internet.
CloroxMan @ Sep 15th 2006 4:07PM
#35
Nope, it only means that those murderers posted on VF. There is no connection at all. Period.
Scythe @ Sep 15th 2006 4:11PM
Didn't they say the same thing about flight simulators? OMG I play them I must be planning on flying into a building because I like to see the explosion..... Ummm no.... OMG! I play violent video games I must be planning on going to some place and killing everyone in there....Again no. WTF! I sware if this country elects Hillary Cliton we are going to be so high in our own shit we won't be able to pick our nose without them banning it because it can be dangerous or offensive to someone.
Games don't kill people, when was the last time you heard of a kid getting killed because his video game went crazy and stranggled him with the controller cord?
People kill people, we make bombs, guns, swords, knives, biological weapons but none of them would not be able to kill you if there wasn't some person and Human there to pull the trigger or attack someone else.
I can play violent games all day long killing hundreds of video game character. I could walk over to a women game character and beat her with a bat and not care. I couldn't do that to someone in real life, I know it's wrong and crule I know what would happen if I did it. People would be sad and upset and I would be cold hearted and evil to do something like that.
But games don't have that kind of effect, you can kill someone and no one is going to care. Sure the police will come after you but after awhile it goes away and they stop chasing you. When was the last time someone was murdered and all you had to do was change your cloths to forget what they was after you for?
Warren Lewis @ Sep 15th 2006 4:16PM
Immediate News Release - September 15, 2006
Anti-game attourney to post on Joystiq
WARNING TO POSTERS OF JOYSTIQ:
HARASSING ANTIGAME ATTOURNEY TO POST BULLSHIT
Antigame attourney,activist, and master of harassment,Jack Thompson will more than likely post in the Joystiq fourms due to the subject being reported and the fact Thompson has not forgiven Dennis McCaulley for kicking him off his site and taken away his posting "privileges"
Thompson's post will be promptly followed with a post by self-proclaimed videogame expert and anti-Jack Thompson activist Warren Lewis.
Lewis, who has been a regular poster on GamePolitics since previous October has first-hand witnessed Thompson's hate for the videogame industry and the community.
Thompson's cyberstalking on Gamepolitics include, Calling the the site's posters and owner many rude and hateful names, some of which include, Nazi, Hitler youth, Pixelante,Terriorist (also: Taliban terrorist). Creating a new livejournal's so he can keep posting his hateful messages. Trying to have Dennis McCauley and other posters (which include Warren Lewis) arrested by the FBI. He has attempted this twice.
Thompson's harrasment has not been confined to GamePolitics just as it hasn't been confined to the Videogame community. The target of Thompson's harassment has been some of the key figures of the videogame industry. These people include:
- Patrica Vance, Presdent of the Electronic Software ratings board (ESRB)
- Doug Lowenstien - Head of Take Two Interactive, The publisher of the violent and controversial Grand Theft Auto series.
Other corporations include, but are not limited to:
Rockstar Games - The devloper of the violent and controversial Grand Theft Auto series
Blank Rome - Lawyers who repersent Take Two Interactive.
Thompson, dispite saying that he doesn't want the games banned wants Rockstar and Take Two Interactive out of buisness so the Grand Theft Auto games cannot be released at all.
Jack Thompson is also a holder of Take Two stock. Thompson is now able to join the Take Two shareholder's meetings so he may harass Doug Lowenstien in person.
Warren Lewis has been a resident of Raleigh, North Carolina for three years, and resides in an neighborhood that is currently being demolished to make way for single family homes for people who can afford to park their Porsches and other expensive automobiles in it's driveways.
Warren Lewis can be contacted at cecil475@earthlink.net
He also believes in not posting most of his private information for all to see and then bitch about when a gamer calls him.
Warren also hopes that he has done a good job making fun of Jack Thompson's press releases. One of which, will be making an apearance soon, if not while Warren was typing this.
- Warren Lewis
IanC @ Sep 15th 2006 4:46PM
Gold. Solid Gold :)
N3k74r @ Sep 15th 2006 7:01PM
Holy Crap. Best Article on here, yet. I'm bookmarking this.
jordan @ Sep 15th 2006 7:13PM
i find it amazing that everyone here is so quick to agree that a game called "Super Columbine RPG" has no influence at all on the school shootings. am i saying that all violent games are evil? no. i'm saying that we cant ignore the fact that this crime was committed by a kid who claims that his favorite game protaganizes the school shooters at Columbine High School. anytime that such a brutal crime is portrayed in a positive light their might be some connection.
Tim Bickley @ Sep 15th 2006 7:28PM
jordan: have you played the super columbine RPG game? All arguments about taste and intended purpose aside the game itself is boring beyond belief. There is simply no way that someone could play the game and decide that shooting up a school is so much fun that they have to go and do it for real.
At least with GTA etc the games are enjoyable so the brainwashing argument is plausible (though wrong). With Super Columbine RPG the only person who would play it to such an extent as to consider it one of their favourite games is someone who was already dreaming about carrying out a school shooting and was using the game to act out their fantasies.
jack thompson @ Sep 15th 2006 10:36PM
Dennis McCauley should crawl back under the rock he oozed from:
Immediate News Release - September 14, 2006
Video Game Site’s SLAPP Bar Complaint against Anti-Video Game Activist Found to Be Baseless; Thrown Out by The Florida Bar
WARNING TO VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY “REPORTERS”:
HARASSING JACK THOMPSON IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR VOCATIONAL HEALTH
Dennis McCauley is a Philadelphia-based “journalist” who writes freelance articles for the Philadelphia Inquirer promoting video games as “culture.” Petri dish culture, maybe.
Mr. McCauley decided he didn’t like Jack Thompson’s activism and Thompson’s pushing back against McCauley’s readers’ harassment of Thompson, so Mr. McCauley filed what is called a SLAPP bar complaint against Thompson with The Florida Bar claiming that Thompson is “unethical.” SLAPP is an acronym for “strategic litigation against public participation,” and it is a device increasingly used by corporations to deter citizens from participating in the public square against their predatory, reckless practices.
Mr. McCauley learned this SLAPP methodology studying the huge Blank Rome law firm, curiously also based in Philadelphia, which filed its own SLAPP Bar complaints against Thompson to punish him for his successes against Blank Rome’s client, Take-Two, which makes, markets, and sells its violent video games to children, including the Grand Theft Auto games.
Bad news hit today for Mr. McCauley who also runs a video game obsession site at www.gamepolitics.com. The Florida Bar, which is no fan of Jack Thompson, took a hard look at McCauley’s ridiculous Bar complaint and wrote Mr. McCauley the following in a letter dated September 11:
“This is to advise you that on the basis of a diligent and impartial analysis of all the information available as of this date, The Florida Bar has found no present basis for further inquiry. Therefore, this case is now closed.”
McCauley, by the way, refused to disclose to his web readers that he had filed a Bar complaint against Thompson, yet continued to attack Thompson at his web site, even going so far as to cite Thompson’s problems with The Florida Bar caused by the entertainment industry SLAPP filers. Any real journalist knows of the duty to disclose such a conflict of interest. McCauley pretended to be impartial to his readers while personally pursuing a Bar complaint against a public figure he was scathingly writing about! The dishonesty of that is taught in Journalism 101.
Closed hopefully is the door to other Taliban-tactics of video game enthusiasts who have tried, with death threats, bar complaints, and operatives dispatched to Thompson’s neighborhood in Miami to intimidate him into silence about the public safety hazards posed by violent video games which are serving as murder simulators. The guy in Montreal this week who went on a shooting rampage in his college was an obsessive video gamer. Two of his favorite games were Take-Two games, by the way, including Grand Theft Auto. All of this news is spilling out now up north, as Canada is in an uproar about the linkage of the games to the massacre. Thompson has been contacted all day long by media to explain the nexus. Dennis McCauley has not called, however.
Possible legal action against McCauley is being considered, as Thompson is preparing a federal lawsuit to punish porn and video game industry lawyers for repeatedly using The Florida Bar to harass Thompson. McCauley foolishly inserted himself into that mix. Relatedly, another video game web site has today put itself in harm's way. So many knuckleheads with brains fried by games; so little time.
CONTACT Jack Thompson for more information. Contact the Philadelphia Inquirer to see if McCauley is still a freelance “journalist” for that newspaper.
and this just in:
Immediate News Release – 9/14/06
Montreal School Shooter Trained for Massacre on Two Violent Video Games
Dawson College student Kimveer Gill apparently literally trained on his two favorite murder simulation video games to go on his college shooting spree, just as did Klebold and Harris at Columbine High.
The two games, according to Gill’s own web site, are Postal and Super Columbine Massacre.
Miami attorney and anti-violent video game activist over a year ago challenged the maker of Postal, Vince Desi at Running with Scissors in Tucson, Arizona, to publicly debate whether or not his company should continue marketing Postal. Thompson predicted that it might lead to a mass killing, as a mass knife assault in Russia had been linked to Postal. Desi refused. Desi is now likely to have his company named in a wrongful death action in Canada: http://www.totalvideogames.com/news/Jack_Thompson_Double_Dare_You_9141_2629_0.htm
Even more remarkably, Thompson last year appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes regarding a wrongful death case that he and his co-counsel filed in Alabama on behalf of the families of three cops slain by a teen who trained on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to kill. The video game training of the Alabama killer became known when he was quoted as saying: “Life is like a video game. You have to die sometime.” Kimveer Gill, the Montreal massacrist, is quoted saying precisely the same thing, while enthusing about his play on violent video games:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060914/gill_profile_060914/20060914?hub=Canada and
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/17/60minutes/main702599.shtml
The massacre in Montreal is simply the latest tragedy of mass killing linked to violent virtual reality murder simulators. The worst is yet to come. Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., is set to release on October 17 the game Bully, which in every sense is a Columbine simulator.
CONTACT Jack Thompson at 305-666-4366.
GamePolitics @ Sep 15th 2006 10:49PM
Following that stream of Thompson-ness, we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...
beemoh @ Sep 15th 2006 10:51PM
Satisfy my curiosity, Jack- are things like
"Dennis McCauley is a Philadelphia-based “journalist” who writes freelance articles for the Philadelphia Inquirer promoting video games as “culture.” Petri dish culture, maybe."
and
"So many knuckleheads with brains fried by games; so little time."
the sort of thing you include in your releases to mainstream news outlets, or is that just for us?
/b